French politician suspended after calling nation's first black minister a 'monkey' who belongs in 'the trees'

The National Front in France has suspended a politician who called Christiane Taubira, the country’s black justice minister, a “monkey” who she would “rather see in the trees than in the government”.

The apparently racist outburst by Anne-Sophie Leclere, a mayoral candidate in Rethel, in the Ardennes, north-eastern France, is an embarrassing blow to Marine Le Pen, the leader of the party, who has threatened to sue anyone who describes them as “extreme Right”.

On her Facebook page, Miss Leclere, 33, who runs a fishing shop, posted a montage of photographs placing a picture of a baby monkey, with the caption: “At 18 months” next to one of Miss Taubira, with the caption: “Now”.

Quizzed by Envoye Special, an investigative television programme that unearthed the pictures, she said that it had “nothing to do with racism”. But she went on to say: “To be honest, I’d rather see her in the branches of a tree than in the government. Quite frankly, she’s a savage when she arrives with a devilish grin. But it’s not racist.”

Miss Taubira, from French Guiana, did not react immediately to the comments.

But anti-racism groups seized on it as a sign that “we can see the real face of the Front National”.

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